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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Gov. Johnson in the News: Taking a libertarian message to Tampa!

FYI - From GaryJohnson2012.com.

-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

August 27,2012
CNBC

Gary Johnson: Let's Abolish the IRS

He is the candidate you hear very little about and has big plans if he occupies the white house. A consumption tax instead of an income tax. an audit of the federal rerve. Legalizing pot just to name a few. Gary Johnson was a two-term governor of New Mexico. Now he is running for president on the libertarian ticket. What would the u.s. economy look like if he were in charge? Joining from us Tampa is former governor Gary Johnson. Good to see and you thanks for joining us today.

Gary Johnson: “It borders on racist”TAMPA — After successfully navigating multiple security checkpoints, including the actual TSA security line inside the Tampa Convention Center, in order to get a free coffee from the Google press lounge, I immediately left the convention center Monday and walked back through the heavily guarded security zone out to desolate, windy, humid downtown Tampa, currently patrolled by helicopters, National Guard, local cops made up to look like national guardsmen, and probably death drones. I was meeting up with Libertarian Party candidate and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, who was spending a portion of the afternoon holding court at a local coffee shop, across the street from a closed-down record store. I compared it, when I met Johnson, to a country under military occupation. He called it “the future of America.” (He probably meant with the heavily militarized police force, invisible “free speech” zones and death drones and so forth, though it also applies to the closed-down record store.)

The GOP national convention is looming this week where Republicans will vote for their presidential nominee to face Barack Obama and Gary Johnson in the November 6, 2012 general election. The contest is between Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, whereas Mitt Romney is widely expected to win the nomination after much manipulation of voting delegates to the convention.

Yesterday, Ron Paul made a speech which lasted over one hour to approximately 11,0000 of his supporters at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida. Several in the crowd were surprised Paul didn't offer any direction in whether to support Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson, vote for Mitt Romney or write-in Ron Paul's name on their ballots in November. The only direction Paul offered was to continue to support small government initiatives, individual freedoms and to hold elected officials accountable for their votes. The underlying message however seemed to be to remain in the Republican Party as per his new logo. His logo since the 2008 campaign has been a stenciled "REVOLUTION" with the 'evol' changed to 'love' in red. At the rally, the logo was "REPUBLICAN" with 'can' in red and the 'love' was gone.

Gary Johnson is the Libertarian candidate for President and the former two-term Governor of New Mexico. He has been a consistent advocate for limited, efficient government and personal liberty. An outspoken pro-Constitution Libertarian, Johnson would end the war in Afghanistan now. He opposes the failed multi-billion dollar war on drugs and demands greater transparency at the Federal Reserve. As president, Johnson would cut federal spending by 43 percent, slash debt and make government live within its means while reducing taxes and regulation to foster real job creation and economic opportunity like he did in eight years as governor. The National Review said he was "#1" in job creation as governor. An avid skier and bicyclist, he has reached the highest peaks on four of the seven continents, including Mount Everest.

TAMPA—Gary Johnson is serene. Sitting down to a lunch of grilled shrimp and tomato salad at a Latin restaurant in historic Ybor City, the Libertarian Party presidential nominee says his less-government philosophy is gradually spreading across the country and that many pundits and political strategists will be surprised at his showing on election day.

He didn't make any predictions on exactly how well he will do. But he expressed confidence that his campaign will "exceed expectations," which could mean that anything upward of 1 or 2 per cent could be considered a successful outcome. The current Rasmussen Reports poll gives President Obama 48 per cent, Republican challenger Mitt Romney 48 per cent, and Johnson 1 per cent. But Johnson says simply being listed by name in the poll is progress.

Jay Kramer, a Mitt Romney campaign supporter from Washington, D.C., filed a challenge on Friday to keep Libertarian candidate for President, Gov. Gary Johnson, from appearing on the Iowa ballot in November. The Romney campaign hired the Des Moines-based Nyemaster Goode PC for the challenge, which will be heard by Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz on Monday at 3 p.m.

"This is clearly a setup," said the Johnson campaign's attorney, Alicia Dearn. "The Libertarian Party had 2,000 petition signatures and should have been on the ballot without challenge, as they have always done in the past. But Republican Iowa Secretary of State Schultz — in violation of longstanding Iowa law — rejected the petition and required the Johnson campaign to caucus at the state fair. There, the Romney campaign surveilled the Johnson campaign's activities for the sole purpose of bringing this eleventh-hour challenge," Dearn said.

The Romney campaign's challenge was filed Friday afternoon and set for a hearing on Monday afternoon. The 106-page challenge includes photographs of Johnson supporters asking fair-goers to support having Gov. Johnson and the Libertarian Party offered as a choice on the ballot. The Republicans' challenge claims that the state fair signatures should be thrown out because the signers are not Libertarians.

Third party candidate should be heard in race
With Mitt Romney’s recent selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate, the former governor has given himself a boost in the eyes of conservatives across the nation and added more depth to a campaign season that thus far has been based almost solely on mudslinging. With Ryan’s huge hand in the making of the Republican’s “Path to Prosperity”budget plan, one can only hope that the light will start shining more towards actual policy issues instead of the personal low blows between candidates that have been abundant this summer. However, Ryan is not the only person in this election with the ability to add more substance to discussions in the upcoming months.

Gary Johnson, former two-term Republican governor of New Mexico and current Libertarian presidential candidate, has proven himself a tough opponent against big government spending and waste. His plan to dissolve the national deficit by cutting 43 percent of the federal spending is simple in its approach and follows his anti-big government stance.

Want to Legalize Weed? Tell the Pollsters You're Voting for Gary Johnson
If the presidential debates this fall are only between President Obama and GOP candidate Mitt Romney, you can be sure the issue of drug policy -- more specifically, cannabis law reform -- will not be discussed.

To some that may not seem like a big deal, but it also means that President Obama won't have to answer for his stance with regards to medical marijuana. It also means we will miss a golden opportunity to raise awareness for marijuana law reform. The debates aren't as well-watched as they used to be, but they still pull in tens of millions of viewers.

NM: Rasmussen includes Johnson in national poll
SANTA FE — Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson and his supporters have been badgering national polling outfits to include his name with Barack Obama and presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney on presidential polls of potential U.S. voters.

About 60 people traveled to David and Leona Merrick’s home just northeast of Corvallis for a chance to meet Gray, a retired federal judge running for vice president on Libertarian Gov. Gary Johnson’s ticket.

The backyard affair featured speeches, questions, songs and a little volleyball. David Merrick pointed out that no one had to pay thousands to share some barbecue or have their photograph taken with the candidate.

Libertarian Vice-Presidential Candidate, Judge Jim Gray spoke twice at this year’s Seattle Hempfest. First time at the, “Legalize it! Movie Premier Preview & Panel: Behind the Scenes of Prop. 19” and the second time on the Main Stage.

“Honestly, I never in my life thought I would be in a place like this and I am among friends. It’s amazing, some of the very best people I have met in my life, I have met as a result of drug policy reform, and that means you” Followed by loud shouts and a roaring applause. Judge Gray continued to talk of his experience as a former prosecutor, drug warrior, and Judge.

With all the talk about Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan’s impact on the U.S. presidential race, the real X factor may be a governor with conservative cred, former Republican New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson.

Now a Libertarian Party presidential candidate, Johnson announced last week that he would be on the November ballot in Wisconsin. The LP, currently on 34 state ballots, expects to appear on the marquee everywhere.

The Pennsylvania Republican Party has already booted one third-party candidate from the state’s presidential ballot and is making life difficult for Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson.

Republican voters acting on behalf of the state GOP this week officially challenged the signatures submitted by Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico, who is seeking an equal place on the November ballot beside major party candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

The most recent example of a major mistake by a high-profile pollster is Scott Rasmussen’s unjustifiable justification for omitting Gary Johnson from his firm’s polling. "We have concluded that the most accurate measure of the Obama-Romney race is to leave Johnson out of the mix,” Rasmussen wrote on his website earlier this month.

Rasmussen also knows that Johnson is not your typical third party candidate. Maybe that’s why he alluded to accuracy in measuring the “Obama-Romney race” rather than “the presidential race.” Yes, it is a more accurate measure of a race between two people to only include two names. But the 2012 presidential race features three, not two, viable candidates for the White House.

To the credit of the Secretary of State’s staff, they agreed on thirty-two (32%) percent of our findings and at 4:56 p.m. announced that the Libertarian Candidates had successfully completed the requirements for Ballot Access.

This initial victory in 2012 has ensured that Gary Johnson and David Moran will appear on the General Election Ballot in West Virginia.

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Ben Swann

About Me

I'm a former U.S. Marine and Iraq War veteran. Now, I work as a Deputy Sheriff. I have an Associate's in Criminal Justice, and I'm working on a Bachelor's in Theology/Psychology. I'm a fiscally conservative Democrat, turned pro-life, Big "L" libertarian. As of 2/16/16, I'm the former Bledsoe Co, TN District 3 Commissioner (and I've never been happier now that I'm out of the game). I'm a member and/or supporter of the Libertarian Party, Campaign For Liberty, PERC, the Acton Institute, Wild Cat Unionism, the VFW, the National Association for Gun Rights, the Cato Institute, The Carter Center, The Bush Center Human Freedom Initiative, Gary Johnson's Our America Initiative, I'm a strong supporter of the Constitution, especially the 1st and 2nd Amendments. I believe in a strong, but constitutionally defined, national defense and foreign policy. I consider myself socially progressive but, at the federal level, fiscally conservative. I believe that progressiveness works best at the state and local levels. It is time to throw parties aside, and start looking at individual candidates and their stances on the issues.